Boy Toy
by Q42
Summary: When Mayumi's friends bought her a persocom for her nineteenth birthday, she thought that she would be getting a new computer. But, as she's finding out, there's a lot more to Ran than what's in an owner's manual. And to her own feelings for him.
1. Birthday present

Boy Toy

By Q42

-----

When Mayumi's friends bought her a persocom for her nineteenth birthday, she had thought that she would be getting a new computer. But, as she is quickly finding out, there's a lot more to Ran than what's in an owner's manual - and a lot more to her own feelings for him than she could ever have expected.

-----

Chapter 1:

Birthday Present

-----

All of Cherry Street knew about Mayumi Inori's nineteenth birthday. Actually, it was a bit hard to ignore, with five giggling girls, three persocoms and a mobile unit stumbling along the sidewalk. People stopped to watch as the whole weird procession went by, remarking about how odd it was that the girl in the middle of the throng was wearing a blindfold.

The girl in the middle, Mayumi herself, just wished that her friends could throw her a surprise party indoors. Though she couldn't see what was going on or where they were headed, she knew that they were probably making a scene, and that her neighbors would be talking about it for weeks to come.

"Hey, c'mon! Can't you at least let me see where we're going? This is nuts!" she complained to the half-dozen arms jostling her along.

"That's the surprise!" giggled the voice of Kanna, Mayumi's best friend of seven years.

"Yeah, and you wouldn't want to spoil the whole thing now, would you?" Ryouka added, giving her a poke in the ribs. "Besides, we promise you're really going to like it!"

"Yeah, I figured, but I'd like it a lot better if I wasn't blind!" Mayumi shot back, wobbling unsteadily as her friends worked to hold her upright.

"Please don't get so excited, Miss Mayumi," said the typically deadpan voice of Yuka, Chikako's persocom. "While it was never our intent, your inability to visually track the horizon line seems to be disrupting your sense of balance. Please calm down and allow us to lead you to the destination."

With a resigned huff, Mayumi straightened up, faced forward, and let her friends guide her to wherever they were going._ If these weren't my best friends_, she silently seethed, _I never would have let them talk me into this._

About five minutes later, Mayumi felt her friends maneuver her into a right turn, and somebody said, "Watch your step!" Mayumi lifted her foot a bit, encountered something hard, then raised her foot a little more, finally finding the top of the step. Sighing in relief - the _last _thing she needed was to embarass herself even worse by falling down - Mayumi made her way up the steps until her right foot wound up on the same level of her left, meaning that she was on a level floor.

"Yes!" she exclaimed triumphantly, raising her fists into the air - and falling backward onto her seat as she lost her balance.

"Um ... excuse me. Can I help you girls?" a male voice asked from somewhere in front of her.

"Yeah!" she heard Kanna reply. "Just hold on a second." Suddenly, the blindfold was pulled off of Mayumi's eyes, and she blinked as the world came back into focus. When it did, she found that she was sitting on the floor near the entrance of a shop. Basically, the store was just a single long stretch of carpet, with square pedestals along either side. On the pedestals stood male and female figures in various styles of clothing, standing straight and motionless, their eyes closed, as though they had all fallen asleep on their feet. Where a human's ears would be, each of the figures sported a pair of plastic protrusions featuring audio pickups and connector ports for interfacing with other electronic devices.

Mayumi was in a persocom store.

The birthday girl jumped to her feet, her eyes wide, her annoyance about the blindfold totally forgotten. "Oh, WOW!" she cried, running over to the nearest display pedestal, "This is awesome!" She turned to her friends with a huge smile on her face. "Thank you! I've always wanted a persocom."

Kanna grinned back at her. "Hey, these days, just about everyone does."

"Yeah, and now you won't be stuck with that scuzzy old laptop anymore," Chikako said. "Right, Yuka?"

The green-haired, child-size persocom nodded. "Agreed. Even the simplest persocom AI is far superior to that which can be installed in a non-mobile computer. And naturally, because persocoms are humanoid in shape, we can perform physical tasks that no other type of device can." She glanced at the tiny mobile unit on Ryouka's shoulder. "Then again, some of us aren't much more than glorified PDAs."

"Hey! Yuka is not nice!" cried Rie, pointing angrily at Yuka. "Rie can do lots and lots of things! Rie is Miss Ryouka's best and only persocom!"

"Can you buy and carry groceries?"

"Well, no..."

"Can you cook?"

"No, but--"

"Can you even hold the door open?"

"Yes!" Rie finally exclaimed. "Rie is a good doorstop!"

Yuka rolled her eyes. "As I said, some of us are woefully lacking in physical capabilities - not to mention intelligence."

"Hey!" Ryouka said, standing up for her tiny mobile unit, "At least Rie doesn't make fun of people."

Yuka blinked, genuinely surprised, then hung her head. "My apologies, Miss Ryouka," she said. "It was never my intent to 'make fun of' Rie. I was merely stating facts as best I knew them."

Ryouka relented, but not before shooting Yuka a look that clearly told her to lay off. "It's okay, Rie," she said, reaching up to pat her tiny companion on the head. "Yuka didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"Feelings?" came Yuka's response. "Technically speaking, persocoms ca--"

"Yuka!" Chikako said, cutting her off. "That's enough! Honestly, can't you go five minutes without starting a debate?"

"But I thought you enjoyed our debates?" Yuka said, her brow furrowed in confusion.

Chikako smiled and put a hand on Yuka's shoulder. "Yes, I do," she said, "but most people see it as being argumentative."

"Oh," Yuka said, then gave a nod. "Understood. I will endeavor to refrain from challenging the assertions of others." She turned back to Ryouka and Rie and bowed deeply. "Again, I apologize. It was not my intent to offend either of you, Miss Ryouka and Rie."

Though Rie still had her hands on her hips and looked ready to give the bigger persocom a piece of her mind, Ryouka gave a slight smile. "Just try not to pick on people, okay? You may have a hot-rod CPU, but the rest of us have to get by with what we've got."

"I understand," Yuka replied, then gave another bow and walked back to her owner.

Meanwhile, Mayumi was looking around at the various display models like a kid in a candy store, reading the plaques on each pedestal detailing each persocom's processor speed, disk space and capabilities. "Oh, wow!" she said for the umpteenth time. "So," she asked Kanna, "which kind did you get me?"

"Well, that's the thing. You've got to pick out what you want."

Mayumi's expression fell. "Uh, Kanna," she said, "I really can't afford--"

"Oh, don't worry!" Kanna said. "Once you pick out the persocom you want, we'll split the cost between Chikako, Ryouka, Motoko and me. Whatever you want, the four of us can get it for you."

"Oh, thank you!" exclaimed Mayumi. She gave Kanna a hug, then went and did the same for the rest of her friends, including their persocoms. She had always wanted a persocom of her own, but unlike her friends, Mayumi's family was barely able to pay half of her college tuition, so she had to use all her job money to pay for rent and her education. The only computer that she had was an old laptop her father had bought for her when she started middle school, now completely outdated and useless for anything except word processing.

Once the frenzy of hugs had abated, Mayumi turned back to the display aisle, and to the shopkeeper standing off to one side, a small, pleasant smile on his face. "So," he said, "is there anything I can do for you?"

Mayumi thought for a moment. "Um, no thanks. I'd like to just look around for a few minutes." She walked past him and went back to looking around, this time paying more attention to the various models on display. Though she did think mobile units like Rie were cute, she decided that she needed one that could do more than just keep track of her schedule. For one thing, Mayumi had always been embarassed that she couldn't cook; whenever she invited her friends over to study, they usually wound up eating ramen or microwave meals for dinner. Though the others were polite enough not to bring it up, Mayumi noticed that her friends tended to pick up dinner elsewhere before coming over to see her.

Also, Mayumi desperately needed a persocom with a decent processor. While she could make do by using computers at the public library, her laptop was way too slow to do internet searches for her homework assignments. Once, when she'd had to write a paper on existentialism, she had found that all the computers at the library were booked for the night, and had had to borrow Yuka to get her research done on time.

As she looked around, she found that there were quite a few persocoms that were designed for cooking, cleaning, and internet access. She was checking out a dark-haired female model with long, pink-and-purple "ears" in a bathing suit, when her attention was drawn to another unit farther down the aisle. It was about six feet tall, a broad-shouldered male design with an average-looking build. It looked like a young man of about her age. As Mayumi got closer, she noticed that its artificial muscles were very well-defined, like those of a human who worked out at least three times a week. It featured short, spiky platinum-blonde hair in a crew cut, with long, swept back, blue-and-white ears. The display model wore a pair of baggy black shorts - notwithstanding the fact that it was the middle of winter outside - and a sleeveless black shirt with "LEXINGTON" written on the front.

"Ah!" said the shopkeeper, walking up beside Mayumi, "That's the Lexington Robotics MPC-47. It's been one of our best sellers lately, especially among young women. It's a multipurpose unit, and each one comes programmed with a number of functions, including household chores, a Web browser, and some basic cooking capability. Of course, it also features some fairly good learning software, so if there's anything it isn't already programmed with, it should be fairly simple to teach what you need it to know."

"Sweet!" said Motoko, gazing appreciatively at the big persocom. "Nice choice, Mayumi!"

"Is it upgradeable?" Chikako asked. "Knowing Mayumi's financial situation, she probably won't be able to buy a replacement for a long time."

"Naturally," the shopkeeper replied. "The Lexington website offers free downloads and tech support, and all the parts are more-or-less standard. If, heaven forbid, there's some kind of major problem, it also comes with a four-year warranty, so you'll be able to get it fixed or replaced for free."

"And the CPU?" asked Yuka, "What kind of capabilities does it have?"

At this, the shopkeeper's smile went even wider. "Actually, the MPC-47 features Lexington's new Apexx quantum processor. It's got a speed of fifty teraflops and enough memory on the hard drive for just about anything."

Mayumi felt lightheaded. From what she was hearing, it sounded as though this persocom could do just about anything. It could cook, it could help with her homework, and it would probably last as long as she did without becoming obsolete. "I'll take it!" she exclaimed. "How much is it?"

"You can lease it for twenty thousand yen a month, or buy it for seven hundred thousand."

"We'll buy it," said Kanna, pulling out her credit card, as Mayumi's other friends did the same. "Can we split the cost four ways?" she asked.

The shopkeeper looked a little surprised. "Well, I suppose so. Would you like the one on display, or an unopened unit from the back?"

Mayumi looked up at the persocom on the display pedestal. "I'll take this one, thanks. He looks like he's still in pretty good shape." _Yeah, no kidding ..._ she thought silently to herself.

"Excellent! Give me a few moments, and I'll help you get started." So saying, the shopkeeper walked to the back of the store with the girls' credit cards. Mayumi just stood looking up at what was soon to be her very own persocom. _I just can't believe it_, she thought._ This is like a dream come true!_

At long last the shopkeeper returned, carrying four credit cards, four receipts and four pens. "There you are! Now, if you ladies will just sign those for me, we can get your friend here started." The shopkeeper gave Mayumi a nod as he collected the pens and receipts, then stuffed them in his shirt pocket and turned to the persocom on display. "All right," he said, "here we go!" He tapped a spot behind the tall blond persocom's right ear. There was a click, a soft whirring sound, and then a series of beeps from somewhere inside as the persocom booted up. When its eyes opened, Mayumi felt her heart skip a beat; it had the most beautiful, clear blue eyes she had ever seen.

_Come on_, she chided herself, _get a grip! It's not like he's a real guy or anything..._

-----

>>Run STARTUP

>>Lexington Apexx CPU package detected; 50TF Hard Drive, 1000000GB Free Space

>>Run LINGUA

>>Run MOVIT 6.0

>>Run ? Filename not found>

He blinked. Then he smiled.

"Hello!" he said cheerfully. "It's very nice to meet you. And who might--?"

Then he paused.

His programming told him that his owner should be right here in front of him. His owner should be very easily recognizable: a human, most likely a young woman, looking intently at him.

Instead, he found himself looking at one male human, five females, and four other persocoms, to say nothing of the dozens of other inactive persocoms standing on pedestals around the store. Every person in the room not standing immobile on display was staring at him.

This was not what he had been expecting.

"Ah ... excuse me," he said, looking around in bewilderment, "but which one of you is my owner?"

There were some scattered giggles, and he cocked his head to one side, now more perplexed than before. _Why are they laughing? Is it funny to be very confused?_

Thankfully, one of the human girls - average height, shoulder-length brown hair, soft brown eyes - stepped forward, smiling happily up at him. "Hi!" she said. "I'm Mayumi, and I guess that I'm your owner now."

He felt himself smile at her - partly because he was programmed to do so, and partly out of sheer relief. "Ah! As I was saying, it is nice to meet you, Miss Mayumi." He bowed formally to his new owner.

Mayumi smiled again, then returned the bow. "Thanks! It's nice to meet you, too. So, what's your name?"

Confusion hit him again like a blank white wall. He searched his programming for a moment, then shrugged. "I ... don't know," he admitted. "I know that I am a Lexington Robotics MPC-47 multipurpose persocom, but beyond that, I have no idea."

One of the other human girls leaned over and whispered in Mayumi's ear. "You're supposed to give him a name. Like a puppy, you know?"

Mayumi turned to look at him again, putting a finger to her chin and looking thoughtful. "Hmmmm ... What should I call you, huh?"

He could only shrug helplessly. "Whatever works best for you, Miss Mayumi. I have no opinion on the matter."

Mayumi continued to look thoughtful. Then she smiled again - an expression that he was already beginning to associate with good things - and exclaimed, "I know! I'll call you Ran! How about that?"

He - now Ran - recorded the information, then nodded, returning Mayumi's cheerful smile. "Ran it is, then. Thank you, Miss Mayumi."

Mayumi clapped her hands. "Great! Now that you're all set up, I'd like you to meet my friends." Mayumi took Ran's hand and helped him step down from the pedestal - a bit jerkily, considering that it was the first time he had actually moved his legs. "This is Kanna, Ryouka, Chikako and Motoko," Mayumi said, gesturing to each of the human girls. "Their persocoms are Kiki, Rie, Yuka and Trini."

Ran managed to log in all of the new data - no easy task, but he had been designed for it - and kept right on smiling, bowing to everyone in turn. "Hello. It's very nice to meet all of you." They all smiled, returning his greeting and saying how nice it was to meet Ran, too. Within a few seconds, he found that he was smiling more because he wanted to than just because his operating system said he should.

It was nice to have friends.

-----

Mayumi felt like squealing with glee. _My own persocom! He's cute! He's polite! And he's mine! Mine mine mine mine mine!_ As Ran finished saying hello to everyone, she grabbed his arm - oblivious to the look of surprise on his face - and started pulling him back toward her. "Hey, I just had a great idea!" she exclaimed. "Let's get lunch at the Golden Dragon, then go catch a movie!"

A chorus of cheers greeted her suggestion, and Mayumi started leading Ran to the door. Then she noticed that Ran was still wearing shorts and a sleeveless shirt. Just looking at him, knowing that it was the middle of January outside, made her shiver. Turning to the shopkeeper, she said, "Um, excuse me. Does he come with any other clothes? Like, something warmer?"

The man nodded. "Actually, there is an accessory pack, if you don't mind paying another ten thousand yen."

"I've got it!" Kanna said, pulling out her credit card once again. She gave Mayumi a grin. "Thank God and my parents for the miracle of plastic money."

The shopkeeper nodded, took the card, and motioned for Ran to follow him into the back of the store.

"Thanks, Kanna!" cried Mayumi, giving her best friend a hug. "You're the greatest!"

"No, you are," Kanna replied. "You deserve this, Mayumi. Happy Birthday!"

As they came out of their second round of hugs, Ran came back out, now dressed in black slacks, a white button-down shirt, a black suit jacket and a blue tie that matched his eyes perfectly. "There you are!" the shopkeeper said from behind the tall young "man". "All dressed up and ready to go."

"Oh, he's perfect!" Mayumi cried, running over and wrapping her arms around Ran, who blinked in surprise at his owner's behavior.

"Miss Mayumi, what does this mean?" he inquired.

"Huh? You mean the hugging?"

Ran took a moment to look up what "hugging" meant, then nodded. "Yes, the hugging."

Mayumi blushed - he would have to remember to ask her what _that_ meant - and pulled back for a moment. "Well ... it means I like you. I mean, I can't even afford a persocom, and here you are, brand-spanking new and looking great."

"Spanking?" Ran asked. There was a brief mention of it in his programming, but nothing he could make much sense of. It seemed that it was associated with discomfort, and he hoped that Mayumi had no intention of spanking _him_ anytime soon.

Mayumi just burst out laughing - further convincing Ran that seeing someone else's confusion was supposed to be funny. "It's a figure of speech," she finally replied. "It just means that I'm your first owner."

"Oh." _Thank goodness_, he thought to himself. "Well, I am very glad that you were not planning to spank me."

Everyone laughed at that, and Mayumi's cheeks turned red again. "Uh, yeah. Let's just pretend I never said the S-word, okay?"

"Of course, Miss Mayumi."

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds, and then Mayumi took Ran by the hand. "Well," she said, smiling once again, "now that that's all settled, let's grab something to eat!"

So saying, she led the way out of the store with Ran, followed closely by her friends as they chattered and laughed on their way to the Golden Dragon.

-----

Lunch was everything that Mayumi and her friends had come to expect from their favorite restaurant. Ran noticed that none of the other persocoms ordered food the way their mistresses did, so he kept quiet as the waitress asked what they wanted. When he had an opportunity, he decided that he would ask Mayumi about that, too.

After lunch, they did indeed catch a movie: an animated feature starring a white-haired young man in a red kimono with odd, triangular ears atop his head and an enormous sword. Ran didn't understand most of it, but recorded the movie for later reference. Hopefully someday, when he had more experience with human beings and the world in general, he would be able to make sense of it all.

Some time later, after Mayumi's friends had all said goodbye, his owner led him to her home - a small third-floor apartment with a living room, closet, kitchen and bathroom. No sooner had they walked in through the door than Mayumi headed for the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Not intending to be in a location inconvenient for his owner to reach him, Ran opened the door - and was rewarded with a loud, high-pitched scream that made him worry that his audio pickups would explode.

"EEEEEEEEEEEK! Ran, get OUT! I'm trying to get changed!"

"Oh! Sorry," he said lamely, shutting the door.

A few moments later, Mayumi came back out, wearing a loose-fitting pair of pajamas. "Ran," she said, "from here on out, don't go into the bathroom - _any_ bathroom - if there's already someone inside. Okay? People get freaked out if they catch you peeking."

"Understood," he replied, his eyes still wide from shock. _Yes, indeed. I certainly do not wish to repeat_ that _experience again!_

Mayumi noticed the persocom's lingering distress, and her tone softened a bit. "It's okay," she said reassuringly, patting the big lug on the shoulder, "at least I was still dressed. Live and learn, right?"

"Ah ... right."

Mayumi shook her head, smiling at him. "Jeez, you're such a stiff! I'm going to have to teach you to lighten up a little."

"Lighten up?" said Ran, cocking his head to one side. "Do you mean in terms of weight, or do you want me to activate my LED's?" Suddenly, the persocom's blue eyes lit up - literally - and Mayumi was staring into two intense blue-white lights like a pair of car headlamps.

"Hey! Not so bright!" she compained, squeezing her own eyes shut and holding up a hand in front of her face . "I didn't mean it literally! 'Lighten up' just means that you're not supposed to take things so seriously. Yes, I yelled at you, but it's okay now. You can stop feeling badly for the whole bathroom thing."

Ran deactivated his built-in spotlights. "Really?" he asked.

Mayumi opened her eyes and smiled at her new, good-looking but very naive persocom. "Really." So saying, she went over to the couch, pulled off the cushions, and unfolded it into a queen-size bed. "Now, I'm going to sleep. Do you need to, like, plug in or something?"

"No thank you, Miss," Ran said, "My power cell is still at ninety percent of capacity. If you would like, I can go into standby mode until you need me again."

"Yeah, that would be great," Mayumi said, sliding in under the covers. There was a faint whirring sound, and Ran's blue eyes glazed over, leaving him standing next to Mayumi's bed, fully clothed, a blank look on his face.

Mayumi sighed. "Um, hey, Ran?"

The tall blond persocom gave a beep, waking up from his brief "nap". "Yes, Miss Mayumi?"

"Could you, like, sleep someplace less conspicuous? Maybe on the floor?"

"But I am on the floor," he replied matter-of-factly. "I am physically incapable of standing on the walls or ceiling, and I am not standing on top of any furniture."

Mayumi gave a sigh of exasperation. "I mean lying down."

"Ah. Understood." With that, the well-dressed persocom proceeded to get down on his knees, then lay face-down on the tatami floor.

Mayumi groaned. "No, not like that! You're going to get your clothes all wrinkled up!"

Ran looked up at her innocently from the living-room floor. "But you said to lie down."

Mayumi sat up in bed, realizing that this was going to be more difficult than she had thought. "Okay, first, go into the bathroom, take off those good clothes and hang them up. Then put on the shorts and shirt you were wearing in the store. Then lie down on your back next to the bed, close your eyes and go to sleep. Can you understand all of that?"

"Yes, Miss Mayumi," said Ran, then went into the bathroom and took off his suit jacket. Then he took off his tie. Then he unbuttoned his shirt, giving Mayumi a good view of his wide, muscular-looking chest and six-pack abs...

"Close the door!" yelled Mayumi, realizing that Ran was about to undo his belt next.

"Yes, Miss Mayumi," Ran said, not even batting an eye, and shut the bathroom door, not realizing how close he had come to giving Mayumi her very own peep-show.

Mayumi flopped back onto the bed, heaving a huge sigh of relief. For some reason, she found that her heart was pounding like crazy.

_What the heck is wrong with me?_ she thought. _He's just a persocom. Sure, he looks kind of like a real guy, but he's ... well ... he's just a persocom!_

A few moments alter, Ran emerged, taking a few seconds to hang up his good clothes, then lay back down beside her bed, shut his eyes and went into standby mode.

Mayumi spent a couple of seconds looking down at the sleeping persocom, then settled back in her bed._ I wonder if sleeping on the floor is okay for persocoms? _she thought idly. _I sure know it hurts my back whenever I try it. _She decided that, if she remembered, she would ask Ran about it in the morning.

"G'night," Mayumi murmured sleepily.

Then she reached over, turned off her bedside lamp, and fell asleep.

-----


	2. Good Morning

Chapter 2:

Good Morning

-----

The next morning, Mayumi woke up to the buzzing of her alarm clock. With a groan, she rolled over on the sofa-bed and slapped the Snooze button, buying herself another five minutes.

_Oog_, she thought. _Why can't they make alarm clocks less annoying? What I wouldn't give to wake up to--_

"Good morning, Miss Mayumi!" Ran said pleasantly, sitting upright as he came out of standby mode.

Mayumi closed her eyes and smiled. _Ask and ye shall receive ... _"Hey, Ran. Do you think that you could do that again in about five minutes?"

"Do what? Say 'Good morning'?"

"Yeah, that. You know, you'd make a pretty good alarm clock."

With her eyes closed, she missed Ran's expression of pure, innocent joy. "Thank you very much, Miss Mayumi! I do try to be as useful as possible."

Mayumi sighed sleepily. "Thanks, Ran," she murmured, pulling the covers up over her head.

"Say, while you're at it, could you fix me some breakfast?"

-----

Eight minutes later, Mayumi stepped out of the bathroom, dressed and ready for school. When she walked into the kitchen, she caught a whiff of something delicious, and found Ran leaning over a pot of soup. "Wow, what is that? It smells great!"

Ran smiled and handed her a bowl of the stuff. "Actually, this is a mixture of everything I could find in your refrigerator. I combined ramen broth and noodles with a microwave meal containing shrimp and wild rice. I'm afraid it isn't exactly gourmet food, but it was the best I could cobble together with the foodstuffs available."

Mayumi tasted a spoonful, and discovered that, whether or not it was gourmet food, it was still the best thing that had ever come out of her own kitchen. "Ran, this is incredible stuff! You should be, like, a chef persocom or something!"

Ran gave a shrug. "Thank you for saying so, Miss. Still, I think it might have turned out better if I had access to some seasonings and fresh vegetables."

As Mayumi began spooning Ran's "house special" into her mouth at top speed, she saw the tall blonde persocom pick up a spoon, scoop out some of the soup, and start bringing it toward his own mouth.

"STOP!" she yelled. Ran's arm jerked to a halt before he could take a sip, spilling a few drops on his black sleeveless shirt.

"I'm sorry, Miss Mayumi," he said. "I was attempting to follow your example. Did I do something wrong?"

"I ... well ... persocoms don't need to eat, right?"

"Eat?"

"Yeah. I saw you trying to eat the soup. Won't that mess you up or something?"

Ran thought for a moment. "I do not know. I am programmed to close my mouth in the event of being submerged in water, to prevent damage to my voice box. Could eating food have the same effect?"

"Uh, yeah. Plus, I don't think you have a stomach, so even if it didn't mess up your voice box, it wouldn't do anything for you. You can't, like, _taste _food, can you?"

Ran searched his system specifications, looking for anything related to a sense of taste, then shook his head. "I'm afraid not, Miss Mayumi. It appears that I simply was not designed to eat."

Mayumi nodded. "I thought not. From here on, try not to stick things in your mouth, okay? I don't want you to get gravy on your gears or anything."

Ran blinked, then gave a shrug. "I'm sorry, Miss," he said. "I really wish that I was able to eat food the way you can. I suppose that there are some functions that I simply can't perform."

Something in his voice made Mayumi feel sorry for the poor persocom. "Hey, don't get so worked up about it. I mean, of course you can't eat - you're a persocom! You've already got a fuel cell or whatever, so why should you need food anyway?"

Ran seemed to cheer up at that. "Thank you for saying so, Miss Mayumi. I suppose that, since I am programmed to be as useful to you as possible, in as many ways as possible, the thought of being unable to do certain things is a bit ... discouraging."

Mayumi walked over beside Ran and put an armaround his broad shoulders. "No need to feel bad about it," she told him. "As long as you do your best, that's more than good enough for me. All right?"

Ran smiled. "All right. Thank you very much, Miss Mayumi."

"Hey, don't sweat it," she replied, giving Ran a pat on the back before heading over to pick up her knapsack. "So far, you've been great. Thanks for breakfast, big guy."

"My pleasure," he replied. "Have a good day at college, Miss."

"Yeah, take care of yourself. Feel free to catch some TV or use the internet if you want."

"Thank you, Miss Mayumi. Would you mind picking up some ingredients for your dinner tonight?"

"Sure, no problem." Then Mayumi smacked her forehead. "Oh! I almost forgot! I'm bringing my boyfriend over tonight to do some studying. Could you be dressed in your good outfit by six o'clock?"

"Of course, Miss."

Mayumi gave her persocom another smile, then headed for the door. She was just about to leave when she heard Ran call out, "Excuse me, Miss Mayumi. What exactly is a 'boyfriend'?"

Mayumi felt herself blush. "I ... uh ... well, it's kind of complicated. I guess you're not programmed to know much about romance, right?"

"Hmmm ... I have a few bits of data on the subject, but I could look it up online today for a more in-depth understanding."

Mayumi let out a sigh of relief. _Whew! As if I could explain love to a computer! _"Yeah, you do that," she said. "Take care, Plastic Man!"

As his owner shut the door, Ran raised an eyebrow. _Plastic Man? _Then he pinched his forearm and smiled. _Ah. Humor. I'm going to have to develop a sense for that sort of thing._

Ran shrugged, gave a short chuckle, then headed over to the phone jack.

-----


	3. Dinner With Ryu

Chapter 3:

Dinner with Ryu

-----

Warning: Some references to mature themes in this chapter. If you're under eighteen, or if you're offended by mature humor, or your mother is looking over your shoulder, or you have a jealous significant other, then jump to the next chapter RIGHT NOW!

Oh, that's right, I haven't finished Chapter 4 yet.

Um, okay, in that case, just wait until I've posted the fourth chapter, then jump to it.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

:P

-----

Later that night, two people walked through the door of Mayumi's apartment building. One, of course, was Mayumi. The other was a brown-haired young man in gray slacks and a turtleneck by the name of Ryu Takara, Mayumi's boyfriend.

"So anyway, I tell him to go to sleep, and he practically drops on his face! I mean, I know he's just a persocom, but I really felt sorry for him."

"So? I mean, you didn't let him sleep in your _bed_, did you?"

Mayumi blushed. "Hey! What kind of girl do you think I am? For your information, I had him sleep on the floor in his pajamas."

"Good. 'Cause I was gonna say, it took me nearly three months to get that far with you."

"Oh, come on! A healhy relationship is about more than just sex."

"Yeah, but sex helps, too," Ryu replied, pulling Mayumi toward him and giving her a long, intense kiss.

"Ryuuuu!" Mayumi whined teasingly. "At least wait until we're inside!"

So saying, she fished out her keys, opened the door ...

And stopped in her tracks.

The lights of her apartment were off, but the space was illuminated by dozens of scented candles - candles Mayumi usually used when she was soaking in the bathtub. The kitchen table was set for two, and somewhere, Mayumi's stereo was playing a soft, quiet melody.

And there, of course, standing in front of the doorway, was Ran, dressed in his black slacks, white shirt, black blazer and tie, smiling pleasantly at the two lovebirds.

"Good evening!" he said. "Miss Mayumi, may I assume that this is the 'boyfriend' you mentioned earlier?"

"I ... uh ... yeah, this is Ryu. Ryu, meet Ran."

The tall, blue-eyed persocom gave a formal bow. "Nice to meet you," he said to Ryu.

"Whoa, cool!" Ryu exclaimed, looking Ran over. "Mayumi, _this _is your new persocom?" As Ran straightened up, Ryu walked around him, as though admiring a car in a showroom. "Man! This guy's, like, top of the line!" To Ran, he asked, "Can you really cook?"

"Yes. I'm designed and programmed for multiple functions, particularly domestic duties. And, of course, I can learn new skills if need be."

Ryu whistled. "Un. Be. Lievable. Mayumi, you've gotta write some major thank-you notes to your friends, 'cause he's awesome!"

Actually, Mayumi was a little relieved. A part of her had been worried that Ryu might start feeling jealous that she had another "man" around the apartment, but Ryu seemed genuinely happy - heck, _ecstatic _- about her new persocom.

"Ran, what _is _all this?" she asked, gesturing at the candles scattered around the room.

"I ran a search this morning on 'romance' just after you left. I downloaded some movies, scanned a few texts on the subject, and concluded that subdued lighting, perfumes and soft music function as effective aphrodesiacs. I hope you don't mind that I took some liberties with your things?"

"I ... um ... no! Of course not," she said, still in shock. Then she slapped a smile on her face, realizing that she was acting like a dope in front of both her boyfriend and her persocom. "Thanks a lot, big guy. This is great."

Ran smiled - Mayumi was amazed at just how genuine his expression seemed - and bowed. "Thank you, Miss. As I've said, I'm programmed--"

"--to be as useful as possible, in as many ways as possible," she finished for him, her grin growing wider. "And I'm really grateful that you follow your program so well. Thanks, Ran."

"My pleasure. By the way, did you happen to bring what you wanted for dinner?"

Mayumi suddenly remembered the big white plastic bag of food she'd picked up that afternoon and handed it to Ran. "Yeah, thanks. Ryu said he wanted some dim sum, so I picked up a kit and all the ingredients. The directions are right here on the back."

"Ah. Thank you very much, Miss. Since it says that the dumplings will take approximately twenty minutes to cook, why don't you two sit down at the table? I think you mentioned that you and Ryu had some studying to do?"

Mayumi blushed - usually, her evenings with Ryu tended to be less about school than about each other, and she already felt pretty confident that she could ace the test on Wednesday. "Er, actually, Ran, we won't be studying tonight. Ryu's just here for a ... social visit."

Ran's brow furrowed for a moment - her comment just now conflicted sharply with what she had told him that morning - but in the end, he shrugged it off. Whatever Mayumi wanted to do with her time was fine with him, as long as it didn't involve any unsafe or unhealthy activities. "Well then, once I finish preparing the dumplings, why don't we play a game of koi-koi while we're waiting for them to cook?"

"Fine by me," Ryu said. "I've always wondered how well a persocom would do at playing cards."

Mayumi looked at him, then at Ran. Koi-koi was a fairly complex game, and even though she kept an old deck on the shelf of her closet, she had never been very good at it. Ryu, of course, was a gaming fanatic, and on the rare occasions when she accepted a challenge from him, her boyfriend would always come out on top - sometimes literally, if they were both in the mood.

Then a thought occurred to her. "How about this: the one with the highest score wins, and the winner gets a kiss on the lips."

Ryu grinned at her, and Ran just stood there looking perplexed. "Sounds like a nice incentive," Ryu said. "You're on!"

"Of course she is," Ran replied. "From what I can tell, it's impossible to turn a human off without breaking them."

Mayumi rolled her eyes melodramatically. "Ran, what did I tell you about figures of speech?"

"That 'lighten up' means not to take something seriously. Why? Did you use one just now?"

She groaned. _Oh, I give up_. "Never mind, Ran. Why don't you get dinner started, then we can all play cards?"

"Certainly, Miss," he said, then headed over to the kitchen counter.

Mayumi and Ryu watched for a few moments as the big, broad-shouldered persocom assembled their meal. With the rapid thuk-thuk-thukking as he chopped vegetables, the way he mixed the ingredients like a high-speed egg-beater, and the way he measured out spices with scale-like accuracy, watching him was like watching an episode of Iron Chef run at ridiculously high speed. _Was this what it was like when he made breakfast?_ Mayumi wondered. _Jeez, he's_ fast!

After about a minute, Ran took off Mayumi's pink Hello Kitty apron and folded it back into its drawer. "There!" he proclaimed, looking pleased with himself. "Now we can start the game!"

-----

About fifteen minutes later, the game was going much differently than Mayumi had expected. She was losing, of course, but that was really the whole idea. Then again, she supposed that it would have been nice to make Ryu be the one who kissed her.

Unfortunately, the other half of her plan seemed to be going awry. Ryu had ninety points, but Ran had somehow racked up a whopping one hundred and fifty.

Looking at it objectively, Mayumi realized that she should have expected this. Like most card games, koi-koi relied partly on luck of the draw, but what one did with the cards they were dealt was determined by certain logical rules. Ryu was clever and experienced, but once Ran had read the rule book, he had obviously figured out some kind of winning system, and now he was beating the pants off her boyfriend.

_I've got to see how he does with Strip Poker_, she mused. It would be interesting to see Ryu playing cards in his briefs...

Then she realized the state of undress she would be in long before that ever happened, and tossed out the idea.

Finally, all of the cards were used up, and Ryu flopped back in his chair. "Aw, nuts! I can't believe you pulled that off, man."

"It was simple, really," Ran replied, gathering the cards back up "Once you understand the rules, the rest just falls into place." Once the deck was packed again, he looked up at Mayumi. "Now, you mentioned giving something called a 'kiss on the lips' to the winner?"

_Uh-oh._ "Er ... yeah, I did, didn't I?"

"Well, I believe I am the winner. Am I right that a kiss on the lips involves pressing one's lips to somebody else's?"

_Oh, man. Maybe it was a bad idea to have him look up romance this morning ... _"Um, yeah, Ran, that's right."

Ryu let out a laugh. "Ooh, boy, this is gonna be interesting!" he cackled.

"Oh, be quiet," Mayumi said. Still, it was a little reassuring to see her boyfriend was actually looking forward to watching the kiss.

_Of course, it's not like I'm really kissing another guy,_ she thought as she got up and walked over to her persocom. _Ran's just a big computer, after all. Yeah, he looks cute, but it's not like he's going to start going ga-ga over me._

With that in mind, she leaned down and gave him a kiss.

-----

Ran had touched things before. Even though he had only been online for thirty-five hours, nine minutes and fifty-seven-point-four seconds so far, his tactile sensors had been stimulated in thousands of different ways by objects of various kinds.

But this was different.

When Mayumi's lips touched his, it was like nothing he had ever experienced. Not just because of the physical sensation - the flesh of her lips didn't feel much different from the soft dough he had shaped for her dinner that evening, aside from the fact that it was warm - but the reaction that washed through his consciousness was ... _intense_. Strange, illogical, irrational thoughts raced through his head, none of which he could understand.

It was as though he had been seeing the world in black and white, and suddenly, Mayumi had just shown him a rainbow.

-----

Ran's lips felt different from what Mayumi had expected. Being a machine, she had expected them to be cold, either too hard like teflon or too soft like silicone.

Instead, they felt almost ... _real_.

As she pulled away, she noticed that Ran's eyes were wider than usual.

_No._

_Way._

_He couldn't be ...?_

Then Ran blinked and shook his head. "Ah. That was ... interesting," he said. "Since you and Ryu are romantically involved, I assume that you two do things like that often?"

Suddenly, Mayumi felt Ryu's arm around her shoulders. "All that and more, my mechanical friend," he said, running a hand through Mayumi's hair. "In fact, if you were ... 'anatomically correct,' you might just be able to understand some of the things Mayumi and I are planning to do tonight."

"Actually, I am. What sorts of things?" Ran asked innocently, his head tilted to one side.

"Aha! Mayumi, you she-devil! I'm just gonna have to unplug your big friend here before he starts competing for your affections!" Ryu laughed

"Ran! Ryu! Stop it!" Mayumi whined - partly in jest, but partly because she was seriously freaked out. _Anatomically correct! Ran was designed for ... _those _kinds of things? They sure didn't have that on the display case! _"Actually, Ryu, I'm feeling a little beat. I'm not really in the mood right now. Maybe Friday night?"

Ryu looked a little disappointed, but shrugged. "Okay," he said. "Thanks for dinner, Mayumi."

"You're, uh, welcome," she said, thinking that it was Ran who deserved the credit.

Ryu gave her a peck on the cheek, then walked out and started heading home.

And then there were only Mayumi and Ran, the girl and her persocom, both of whom had some very serious questions on their minds.

-----


	4. Simulated

Intro/ Disclaimer:

Hi, everybody! After two years on a mission in Portugal, guess what? I'm back!! While I've got tons of mission stories to share if anyone wants them, etc., I've really been looking forward to updating the stories I left hanging during my absence.

Thank you to everybody who has been reading my stories and writing so many kind, positive and constructive reviews!

As always, I categorically deny any and all ownership of Chobits and related characters. The only things I do own are a couple of DVD's of the series and the first three volumes of the manga. I'm not getting paid to write this; I just do it because I enjoy writing.

So, without further ado, here's the much-anticipated fourth chapter! Enjoy!!

--

Chapter 4: Simulated

--

The morning after Ryu's visit was completely uneventful. After her boyfriend had left, Mayumi had simply gone to bed, leaving Ran to wash the dishes and put out the candles.

At 7:30, Ran came out of standby to wake her up, which was starting to become routine, and by 7:38 Mayumi was out of the bathroom, dressed, and sat down for another of Ran's restaurant-quality breakfasts. Everything was going along like clockwork.

And then he kissed her.

It took a moment for Mayumi's brain to register the fact that _something_ was pressed against her left cheek. Another tenth of a second, and she also took notice of the fact that that something was actually quite soft, and a little warm. Then her brain finally pieced the information together into a cohesive thought.

_A kiss? I'm being kissed by..._

Suddenly, the warm, pleasant feeling evaporated, and felt her stomach do a flip-flop as she realized who the only other person - well, _being_ - in the apartment was. Mayumi jumped to her feet, blushing like crazy, as she whirled around to face Ran. The persocom, for his part, was quite surprised by the sudden movement, and fell back on the tatami mat, looking up with an expression of utter shock.

"R-Ran, what are you _doing_?"

Ran blinked. "I was giving you a kiss, Miss Mayumi."

"Well, I know _that_, but why?"

Ran smiled. "Well, as your new boyfriend, I'm showing affection in a physical yet non-demanding manner."

Mayumi choked. "M-m-my ... my _boyfriend_?"

"Yes. Because you kissed me last night, this means that we are romantically involved, correct?"

Mayumi's jaw hung slack for a second. "N-n-n ... NO! Ran, just because you won the game last night doesn't make you my boyfriend!"

"But ... you kissed me, so doesn't that mean ...?" Unbidden, the memory of last night's kiss flashed through Ran's mind. What had most astonished him had not been the physical sensation, necessarily, but the mental connections that he had made between what Mayumi was doing and the things he had read online. _If she's kissing me, that means that she ..._

Mayumi let out something between a huff and a restrained scream. "Ran, for crying out loud, do you have to be so _stupid_? It's like, everything I say to you, you think it means something else! I mean, 'lighten up', or 'close the door before you start changing clothes'. How hard is it to understand that? Didn't the people who made you program you with some kind of common sense, or do I need to buy an upgrade package for that?"

Ran just stared up at her for a few seconds. Suddenly, the pleasant feeling that he had had since last night seemed to have disappeared, and in its place was a kind of ... heaviness. Ran had no words for it, but it was the most unpleasant sensation he had yet experienced. They stayed like that for a long moment, Mayumi glaring down at the fallen persocom, Ran looking back with a stunned, pained expression. Then Ran broke eye contact, looking down, and started getting to his feet. "I ... I apologize, Miss Mayumi."

Something about Ran's tone, the way he said the words, made Mayumi stop for a moment. _Did I hurt his feelings?_ Then Mayumi took a deep breath and went back to glaring at him. "Come on, Ran, cut it out with the hangdog look. You're a persocom. You're not really sad, you're just acting like it because somebody put it in your programming that, when you piss off your owner, you're supposed to look down at the floor and act all depressed so they'll feel badly. But it's not working on me, Ran, and it pisses me off that you're putting on an act to make me feel sorry for you, so just stop it right now."

Ran stood up and turned to face her, his eyes looking like he was about ready to cry. Then Ran turned and started walking toward the counter. "Here's your lunch for today, Miss Mayumi."

For a minute, Mayumi wanted to yell at him some more, because of the sullen way he said it. Instead, she took a deep breath, clenched and unclenched her fists, then accepted the lunch bag from Ran without comment. From then on until she walked out the door, no words passed between them.

As she walked downstairs, May realized that her heart was still beating way faster than normal. _Jeez, am I _that_ shallow?_ For that briefest of moments, between feeling the kiss and realizing it was coming from her persocom, she had actually enjoyed it.

_Get a grip, May. You're not some slutty, desperate girl who sleeps with persocoms. You're Mayumi Inori, you are smart, you are talented, you are attractive. You deserve a real, loving, sensitive man. And you do _not_ have to settle for an oversized doll!_

With that in mind, Mayumi marched resolutely out of the apartment building.

--

Ran watched from the living-room window. The heavy feeling was still there in his chest, and as he watched Mayumi stomp angrily across the street to the bus stop, it only go worse. _Is this what humans call rejection_? he thought. Then he remembered what Mayumi had said.

_I am a persocom._

_I have no feelings._

_This is only my programming. Computer code and circuitry. It will cease now that I don't have to "put on an act" for her._

"I apologize, Miss Mayumi," he muttered, watching her bus rumble down the street. "Obviously, I was wrong to deduce that you cared about me. Or that I could care for you."

He turned and headed for the sink.

The heavy feeling didn't go away.

--


	5. Noodles

--

Chapter 5: Noodles

--

"So, it sounds like you're feeling kinda freaked out, huh?"

It was two days later, and Mayumi and Kanna had headed over to Chikako's house for lunch, it being the closest to campus. With Yuka still standing by Chikako's little gas range stirring the noodles, the topic of Ran had come up – particularly his attempt to kiss her and call himself her boyfriend - and now Mayumi was trying to keep herself from getting flustered. "You can say that again! I wasn't looking for a ... one of ... one of _those_ kinds of persocoms!" A thoughtful pause, then, "Do you think I should return him?"

"I wouldn't go that far," Kanna said. "I mean, you did tell him to look up romance, and it was you that kissed him. He hasn't been hitting on you or anything sleazy, has he?"

"Well, no..."

Kanna shrugged. "Then it's just like the guy at the store said, he's made to be useful. I guess somebody designed him to be useful for _that_, too, besides just cooking and stuff."

"Exactly," Chikako, the most computer-savvy of the three replied. "As a matter of fact, a lot of manufacturers are doing that now; people want persocoms that can do more, so designers try to build newer models with as many capabilities as possible so that they appeal to a bigger section of the market. It's just a sales technique, that's all."

"But doesn't that strike you as kind of sick? It's just ... I mean ... UGH!"

"May, please, you've got to calm down, okay? Ran is still just a domestic persocom. Obviously, from what you're saying, he was designed so that, if his owner wanted him to, he could - theoretically - get physically intimate, but only as much as you want him to. Not that there's anything wrong with that... "

"Uck! Are you kidding me? There's plenty wrong with it! I mean, sure he's cute, but-" Realizing that she'd just made a Freudian slip, Mayumi's cheeks turned red. "But, I mean, he's a _persocom_!"

"So? There's a reason they have persocom marriages now, you know; some of us actually think they're kind of cute."

Mayumi crossed her arms. "Chikako, you know that most of those people you see on the news are just perverts, or else they think they're so worthless that they don't think a real person would ever love them. It's sick."

Chikako leaned forward on her beanbag chair. "Not necessarily, May. I mean, let's face it, persocom guys are designed to be good-looking. Plus, they're always nice, they never complain, and they're programmed to put other people's needs ahead of themselves. Really, it's only natural to like somebody like that, and attraction is just the next step."

"But a romantic relationship with a persocom? I mean, you're supposed to care for each other, right? Sure, a persocom can _do _and _say _everything right, but they can't really _feel _things the way we do, can they?"

"You know, there are actually a lot of people who think it's possible. You ever hear of the Chobits series?"

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Basically, there's been a lot of talk about the idea of programming persocoms with humanlike AI and emotional functions, or that they might even be able to develop them on their own. Iridium R&D actually made two prototypes ten years ago to test the idea, but I think there was some big scandal or something, and nobody knows whether they worked or what the company did with them."

Mayumi's brow furrowed. "Yeah, but Ran's not some weird, experimental, humanlike AI. He's just a computer, right?"

"Well, technically, all persocoms are AI's, at least in a limited sense. The thing is that, since we don't understand just how our own brains work yet, nobody knows how to program a persocom CPU with, let's say, human creativity, or emotions like we've been talking about. But, there's this theory that if you help them along with the right software, they might eventually _learn_ those capabilities on their own."

"How? I mean, it's not something like playing the piano, right? We just ... I mean, can you _learn_ to be a person? "

Chikako grinned. "Well, that's really the question, isn't it? They can solve complex problems, their CPUs actually perform more calculations per second than our brains do, they're at least programmed to simulate emotions, and they're always learning. Really, it's not all that unlikely that, after living and relating long enough with humans, they might just start developing their own genuine emotional responses.

"Or, if you don't like that theory, there are some people that say that that weird mass persocom shutdown a few years back was some kind of genius persocom tech's program to give them human feelings."

"Yeah, right!" Kanna laughed. "As though you could program every persocom in the world with something like that in under ten minutes!"

As they were speaking, Yuka walked in carrying in what looked like shrimp in a yellow, creamy sauce over angel-hair noodles. The conversation momentarily interrupted by the green-haired persocom's usual top-notch cuisine, everyone took their bowls with a quick, "Thanks, Yuka," then dug in. Even as Mayumi ate, though, she couldn't help but mull over what Chikako had been saying. _Persocoms ... falling in love? Could it really be possible? That night, in Ran's eyes...?_

"Excuse me." Mayumi looked up to see Yuka, Chikako's green-haired persocom, still standing off to the side. "I couldn't help but overhear that you were discussing the possibility of persocoms like me developing a humanlike A.I."

"Yes. Actually, we were basically just going over the stuff you and I talked about after watching that show last week. You know, the episode on Nova about artificial intelligence research?"

"Ah, yes, _Robo sapiens Revisited_, wasn't it?"

"Yeah"

Yuka looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, "May I make a comment, Miss Chikako? Or would you prefer to keep talking about persocoms in the third person and pretend that I'm not here?"

Chikako gave a sheepish smile. "Oh, yeah. Sorry, Yuka. Is there something you want to say?"

Yuka shrugged. "Referring to our discussion last week on humanlike artificial intelligence, I'd like to repeat my earlier suggestion that you might want to reconsider using your own kind of intelligence as the standard by which to measure all others. Remember last week when I told you that I was already self-aware?"

"Well, yeah, but like I said, how can I tell if that means the same thing to you that it does to me? How can I tell if you smile at me because you're genuinely happy the way I am, or if it's just a reaction dictated by your emotive-emulator programming?"

"And how can you tell if your 'human' emotions are really as different from mine as you claim that they are? Whether generated through the interaction of organic neurons or a neural-net processor, you have to concede the possibility that both systems can generate the same end results, regardless of the intermediary physical mechanisms involved between the conception of the impulse and its final expression as an emotive response."

Mayumi raised a hand. "Um, what are you talking about exactly?"

"Yuka's just saying that she thinks it's possible for persocoms to arrive at the level of ... well, not necessarily _all_ human-like, but at least a sentient A.I."

"Well, I never said that humanlike personality traits were impossible, I was just trying to point out--"

"But that still doesn't answer my questions!" Mayumi cut in. "Can ... I mean, Yuka, do you mean that _you_ feel the way we do?"

The green-haired persocom gave a huff of frustration. "I've been trying to tell Chikako so, but she insists on seeing some qualitative, unquantifiable division between what she keeps calling 'real' emotions and 'artificial' ones. While I have never interfaced with the mind of a human being, and therefore have no basis for direct comparison for how we experience emotional reactions, I maintain that our 'artificial' intelligence is at least very similar to yours, and not necessarily inferior."

Yuka gave a pause, as if thinking of something, then said, almost wistfully,

"At least, I would _like_to believe that the feelings I have are as real as yours."

Mayumi felt her head spinning as Chikako and Yuka's egghead exchange went on, then finally raised her hand for attention. "Hey, wait a minute! What I get from all of this is that, Yuka, you're saying that persocoms ... that _you_ have human feelings, and Chikako, you're saying that you don't?"

"No, that's not it!" exclaimed Chikako. "I'm just saying that there's really no way to know. Unless you actually got inside a persocom's head and felt what they 'feel', or a persocom did the same with you, there's just no way to know whether certain things and situations feel the same for both."

"So ... you mean persocoms _could_ be ... well, like people, someday?"

"For all we know, they may already be like us, in terms of how they process emotional responses. Like I said, there's no real way to tell."

Mayumi just looked at her friend for a long moment, then realized that her jaw was slightly open. "But you don't think that Ran is like that, do you?"

This time, it wasYuka who answered. "Miss Mayumi, you're asking the same question over again. As Miss Chikako has pointed out, and as I must reluctantly agree, there is no sure way of determining that answer. In all probability, the most accurate method of determining whether Ran has reached a humanlike level of awareness would be to ask him, as well as observing his behavior."

Mayumi shook her head, trying to make sense of it all. "Ask Ran? What if he says that he _does_ have feelings? Like this morning?"

"Then your only reasonable option is to accept the answer and interact with him accordingly."

Mayumi gaped at the green-haired girl.

Yuka shrugged. "Either that, or reject it as a falsehood. As a persocom, though, I can vouch for the fact that we actively avoid misinformation. The only time a persocom would state something untrue would be if they mistakenly believed it to be true."

Mayumi was still trying to assimilate what Yuka had said when she glanced at the clock. "Oh, no! Chikako, Kanna, we're gonna be late! We've got to head back to the school!"

In the scramble to wolf down their noodles and grab their things, one thought still nagged at the back of Mayumi's mind.

_Ask Ran ... the only reasonable option ... but what if he says _yes_?_

How was she supposed to deal with a persocom's feelings?

And how was she supposed to share an apartment with him?

--

Thanks again for reading. Sorry if this chapter seems too "talky" or eggheaded – I was trying to get a lot of ideas and exposition taken care of so that the rest of the story can progress faster in the upcoming chapters. Comments, suggestions, editing and reviews are always welcome. Stay tuned for Chapter 6!

--


End file.
